


The Mother Phoenix

by Irhaboggles



Category: Maleficent (Disney Movies)
Genre: Death, Disney, Maleficent - Freeform, Philosophy, Rebirth, Reincarnation, Resurrection, Sequel, daughter - Freeform, life - Freeform, mother - Freeform, pheonix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 08:14:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21096266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irhaboggles/pseuds/Irhaboggles
Summary: Conall tells Maleficent that all Dark Fey are descendants from the Phoenix. They come from her cinders and ashes. This leaves Maleficent to wonder what creatures come from the Phoenix's light and fire. If she represents the dark side of the Phoenix, who is her other half that represents the light? Well...





	1. The Cycle

Conall had said that all Dark Fairies were descendants of the Great Mother Phoenix. They had come from her ashes, during her time of death and darkness. This is what Conall had said explicitly, but Maleficent was able to glean more out of him than that, an implied message. This message said that if Dark Fairies came from the ashes of the great and mighty Mother Phoenix, then any magical creature of the light came from the flames, from her life and vitality. It stung Maleficent somewhere deep in her heart to think that she would've been the descent of a phoenix, but not from the glorious flames. Instead, of course, she would've been a child of ashes. A child of death, despair and decay…

"But she is a symbol of resurrection! Of transformation!" Conall continued to say, sounding practically transcendent as he continued to talk about their Great Mother Phoenix. "It is my hope that we fair folk, like her, will rise from our ashes into a new form, a form of peace…" Ah. So that was where this was going. Of course it was. Conall was such a "peacemonger" that it did not surprise Maleficent in the slightest to hear him use their Mother Phoenix as a metaphor for transformation and change from something dead and violent to something peaceful and alive.

Maleficent stared up into the great bird's eyes. They were smoldering, both light and dark at the same time. Flames and cinders combined. It was an interesting paradox, but very fitting, giving the phoenix's inherently cyclical and dynamic nature. And to think, she was the one with the most direct linage to this ancient beast… It was where they said her magnificent powers had come from. Of course every fairy creature could do some level of magic, but Maleficent's abilities far outshined every other magical creature that she knew. Now she knew why. Even though all of her kind was descended from this great bird, she was the most direct of the lineage. But what did that _mean_? What did it mean for her?

Obviously, for Conall, it meant that Maleficent was not only supposed to be the symbol of transformation, but that she was supposed to be some sort of prophetic "Chosen One" who would unite the fairy kingdom with the human kingdom because of this genetic tie to the Great Phoenix. She was supposed to be the symbol and instigator of transformation just as her ancient ancestor was. In the same way a phoenix experienced both life and death, Maleficent had experienced humanity and fairy-kind. They were children of both worlds. And Conall wanted them to use that trait to bring about peace and unity, acting as a bridge between these two worlds.

But to another fairy of this lost tribe, the one named Borra, Maleficent was not supposed to use her phoenix powers for anything other than war, to help her fellow fairies to victory. She was supposed to use the fire of the phoenix to burn the world of men and bring about the resurrection of the fairy folk. At least in Borra's eyes. He wanted to use her power for war and control. She was to be a decision-maker and decide who lived and who died. Conall wanted her to be a bridge and a peacemaker. The complete and utter opposite. But what did _she _want? What did _Maleficent_ want? Well, to be quite honest, she wasn't sure…

Of course, she knew she wanted the war between men and fairy to end, and she wanted Aurora back by her side again, but even those ideas were beginning to fade for her. Years of war had turned her into a very jaded creature and with every day she spent away from her dear little Beastie, the darker and darker she became. She was starting to think like Borra, believing that the only road to peace would be backed by force. It was not a pretty picture, but it was life…

And Beastie, her little Beastie. Had the girl not betrayed her? Abandoned her? Chosen a human family in favor over her? Why, then, should she feel compelled to go back and make things right with Aurora when it was Aurora who broke their bond in the first place? No. Maleficent wasn't quite sure what she wanted anymore, but she was pretty sure Aurora and peace were no longer in the picture.

"Well, well. It looks like my phoenix transformation is finally beginning…"

But as with the cyclical and everchanging nature of the phoenix, and of life in general, tides would turn eventually. Maybe Maleficent started out on one side of the war, with one set of beliefs, but by the end of it, she had gone through another transformation and returned to where she had started. She had been seconds away from striking down the Human Queen when Aurora intervened, begging Maleficent to remember all the progress she'd made over the past five years, begging her not to revert back to the bitter warmonger she used to be.

For a second, Maleficent did not care at all what Aurora had to say, but the moment Aurora called her mother (not godmother, but mother) something changed within Maleficent and the phoenix lost in the ashes rose up in a brilliant burst of light once again.

_Mother. She called me mother…_

And in a flash, all of Maleficent's anger was gone. But scarcely had she had the chance to say or do anything before she remembered that the Human Queen was still very much a threat. The woman had strung her crossbow one last time, loading it with an arrow tied to a bomb full of a deadly powder that destroyed any and all magical creatures with just a single touch. It was only a split second, but Maleficent instantly saw the cruel and sadistic trap the Human Queen was forcing her into. She could stand still and let Aurora take the blow for her and fly away safely while Aurora died, or she could intervene and sacrifice herself for Aurora. The answer was obvious before the question was even asked and that was exactly what the Human Queen was counting on.

_"Your kind is so predictable!" _the queen had said only moments prior.

"I know," Maleficent whispered as she heard the words echo over in her mind, then she made the choice both she and the other queen knew that she always would. She jumped in front of Aurora.

When Maleficent died, she ceased to be aware of anything at all. As she passed, it pained her to look into Aurora's devastated eyes, but she did her best simply to smile through and pray that the sweet young girl would make it out of this mess alive. In the back of her mind, though, Maleficent's thoughts were elsewhere. If it was true that she was the daughter of The Great Phoenix, would she be able to rise again? Or would it be as Conall had implied? She could control the Great Bird's cinders and ashes, but not its life flame. Well. She would find out soon enough. If she came back, the answer would be that she inherited the Phoenix's full abilities. If she did not come back. Well…

In the end, Maleficent managed to be wrong and right at the same time. She did indeed come back to life, but not because of her own merit. So she was right that she only had half of the Phoenix's full abilities. But she was wrong that she had the resurrection half. It had been another child of the phoenix who had brought Maleficent back to life. It was a creature of the light, as Maleficent had theorized. And who did this light happen to be? Well, it was the girl whose very name meant "dawn". Aurora. How very poetic and fitting… Once upon a time, Maleficent had cursed Aurora. Then 16 years later, she managed to set the girl free from that very same curse. Only a few days ago, in some sense, Aurora had cursed Maleficent. Now Aurora was undoing it, just as Maleficent had done for her five years prior.

But what was even funnier and more paradoxical was _how _Aurora brought Maleficent back. She did not bring Maleficent back in blinding flame. The moment life was returned to Maleficent's body was a very quiet and undramatic moment. Perhaps Maleficent's _return_ was dramatic, but the actual moment that Aurora had restored life to her was very quiet. It was so quiet in fact, no one would ever remember how Aurora had done it in the first place. But that was where the second part of the paradox and irony came in.

What brought Maleficent, the daughter of the Great Phoenix, back was not fire, but water. Tears. Aurora's tears. Aurora's tears hitting the ash that was Maleficent's body was what brought Maleficent back. What brought the firebird back to life… was water. Aurora's tears of love and grief had spilled onto the Phoenix's ashes and started the cycle of rebirth all over again. The rebirth was so balanced and equal. Fire and water, ash and tears. It was the light and dark halves of the phoenix working together to complete the cycle and end at the beginning: birth/resurrection. And while Maleficent's death had been incredibly dramatic and slow, the moment of her resurrection had been impossibly quiet…

But the moment Maleficent had come back to herself, she came back in a cloud of black smoke. She was still the dark side of the phoenix. And it had been then that the Human Queen finally quailed in terror. In one last ditch effort to escape, she shoved Aurora off the top of the tower they were standing on. It was just like the arrow trick. She knew Maleficent would always go for Aurora first. This time was no different. While the queen fled, Maleficent dove straight after Aurora. And so the cycle was continued and completed again. The dark phoenix saved the light one once again. It really was an endless back and forth of one and the other. Maleficent was the dark side of the phoenix and Aurora the light and when they were together, the cycle was complete and free to run its cyclical course round and round and round again…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I know I'm adding to the lore of the Phoenix arc, but just go with it. If anyone has any questions as to what I changed, feel free to ask.


	2. The Dichotomy

It wasn't until long after the story had concluded, though, that either half of the Great Bird was able to piece the truth together.

"So, can you still turn into a phoenix?" Aurora couldn't help but ask her mother, eyes glittering with excitement and awe.

"Is that a request, Beastie?" Maleficent chuckled back, giving Aurora a devious look.

"Maybe," came the sing-songy reply, complete with the innocent little grin. This earned another laugh from Maleficent who shook her horned head in exasperated amusement at Aurora's playfulness.

It was true, though, that Maleficent could still turn into the dark phoenix if she wanted to. It just took a lot of energy. And her size was so massive that it really wasn't safe to do unless they were someplace very far out of the way. After all, the last time she'd done it, she'd destroyed half the castle. And it wasn't intentional! It was just that her wings were so big and powerful that when they tried to fan out, they kept smashing into things. And then when Maleficent had jumped off the castle tower after the falling Aurora, they had both slammed into the ground and made such a huge ditch that it was still being repaired almost six months later. Ooops.

So even though Aurora did genuinely want to see Maleficent in her phoenix form again, she was only joking when she asked Maleficent to turn into the Great Bird then. But even though their conversation started out in a humorous fashion, it ended on a more serious note.

"How did you get those phoenix powers anyway?" Aurora asked. She had not been there when Conall was explaining the history of the Dark Fairies to Maleficent, so of course she had no idea what the connection was between her mother and the Mother Phoenix. Maleficent was more than happy to fill her in on the details. The story made Aurora's eyes go wide.

"So you can resurrect?" she asked, gasping a little at the implications of what Maleficent's power could do.

"Hmmm. I suppose," Maleficent cocked her head pensively. "I never really thought about trying out that particular power again…"

"Oh, don't. Please don't," Aurora said quickly, giving a weak laugh as she spoke. In the few minutes when Maleficent had been dead, those had easily been the worst in Aurora's life, even more than when she first found out that she was cursed. To have to live a life without Maleficent, even if it had only been a few minutes, had been terrifying and terrible. Aurora never wanted to go through that sort of pain ever again.

Maleficent was quick to wrap a consoling wing around Aurora's shoulder, knowing what had frightened the girl. It touched her to think about how deeply Aurora loved her, but she didn't disbelieve it because Maleficent felt the exact same way. Hadn't she been equally terrified and devastated five years prior when it had been _she _who thought that _Aurora _would be gone forever?

Aurora, meanwhile, smiled as she felt that familiar and comforting wing drape itself over and around her tiny frame. It had an instant soothing effect on her and she felt better the second that familiar weight draped itself over her shoulders. She just felt so safe, loved and protected when Maleficent shielded and held her like this. It was the best feeling in the world!

And on a selfish level, it made her feel good to think that she was the only one Maleficent did this for. Not even Diaval could boast getting hugged by Maleficent's wings, though knowing Diaval, he'd be repulsed by the idea anyway. He'd probably consider it some sort of insult to his masculine avian pride. And it wasn't like Maleficent was likely to go around trying to hug Diaval anyways. She was just as stubborn as he was when it came to showing affection to one another. The silliness and pettiness of it all tore a laugh from Aurora's throat.

"What amuses you, Beastie?" Maleficent asked, shifting her wing a little when she felt the laugh tremble up through Aurora's little body.

"Just thinking about the fact that I was raised by birdbrains," Aurora replied, chuckling again at her own witty little joke.

"Ah yes. Thistlewit, Flittle and Knotgrass," Maleficent shook her horned head again in disdain. They were the most emptyheaded airheads Maleficent had ever met, and that was saying a _lot _because Maleficent knew a _lot _of dumb people…

"No, no, not them!" Aurora laughed for a third time. "You and Diaval!"

"Me?" Maleficent sounded deeply offended for her sake, but said nothing in Diaval's defense. What a fit he would've thrown had he heard it.

"Well yes, you, silly," Aurora grinned sweetly up at her mother. "You're the phoenix, he's a raven!"

"Ah," now Maleficent understood. Aurora hadn't been insulting her intelligence. She had been referring, literally, to the fact that Maleficent was part bird. Sort of. In some weird, magical, cosmic sense. But she still wasn't sure what she thought about the term "birdbrain"…

"What does that make me, then?" Aurora continued to muse with an amused smile on her face. "A ravex or phenovin?" Maleficent raised an eyebrow at her silly little Beastie, amused by the ridiculous names the girl was coming up with by smashing the words "phoenix" and "raven" together. Aurora, meanwhile, continued to come up with portmanteaus for several minutes more.

At last, however, Maleficent gently cut her off to tease her.

"I think you may be 100% human, Beastie. Only the fairy folk get to claim an avian lineage!" she bragged, flexing her wings a little. Although they were still very much the same wings they had always been, after her phoenix transformation, they had seemed to change in color slightly, looking blacker than before with the occasional tiny tinge of yellow, orange or amber speckled across and under the black feathers.

"Well I'm practically a fairy child myself!" Aurora pretended to cry indignantly. "I was raised by four fairies and a shapeshifter and I ruled over the Moors for five years! I am a child of _both_ worlds!" she crossed her arms and pouted adorably, earning yet another rare laugh from Maleficent, though they weren't rare when Aurora was around. She was the only one who could make Maleficent smile and/or laugh… and often!

"Do not fret, little Beastie, I still love you anyway," she promised, stroking Aurora's back with her wing.

"Good," came the huffy reply, though it was clear that Aurora was only playing around.

This was when their conversation went back to a more serious and pensive place again. Aurora did begin to wonder about Maleficent's phoenix side and how exactly it all worked. And admittedly, she did wonder if there was some way she could claim some "avian lineage" too. That wasn't to say she felt ashamed at being a pureblooded human, but she did think it would've been cool to be able to claim that she was part bird.

It was then that Maleficent offered to take Aurora back to that underground kingdom in order to show her what Conall had talked about. With the fairy folk finally leaving peacefully with humanity, there was no longer any need to use the underground kingdom. Now, it was only there for show. People and fairies could come and go there at leisure.

"Up for a little late-night adventure?" Maleficent asked.

"Always," Aurora replied passionately, then without any hesitation, she let Maleficent to carry her off to the night sky. She wasn't afraid at all.

Once the pair reached the underground kingdom, Maleficent was quick to find the place where the phoenix painting was kept.

"There she is," Maleficent murmured as she pointed up to the large painting. "The Mother Phoenix."

"Wow," Aurora breathed in awe. For a moment, the two only admired the creature's wild and dangerous beauty, but after a moment, the two decided to keep exploring. They had come to study the other half of the bird, after all, and they wouldn't find it by just standing around.

"Look! There!" Aurora pointed to a tiny hole in the wall off to the side away from the painting. "It looks like a doorway!"

"I don't know if it would be safe to go in," Maleficent cautioned, but it was too late. Aurora had already slipped inside. Maleficent heaved a tired sigh before walking in after her. Aurora may have been 21, but she still acted 16 sometimes…

But all of Maleficent's mild frustration was erased the moment she reached Aurora's side. They were in a very dark room, so Maleficent used some of her magic to illuminate the room. Once it was bathed in glowing green, the duo was treated to another massive mural of a phoenix, only this time, it was bright white instead of a cindery black. The other half of the phoenix. The other part of the dichotomy. The second part of the cycle between life and death, and death and life. Its feathers were the same white-gold color that Aurora's hair was. It was a perfect inversion of the phoenix on the other side of the mural and…

"And look!" Aurora pointed up to its eye. Like the dark phoenix on the other side of the wall, its eyes were bright and dark at the same time, but there were tears leaking out of this one's eyes. While the other phoenix had looked angry and energetic, this one looked sad and slow, melancholic.

"What a…pleasant duality," Maleficent scoffed. "Anger or grief."

"I don't think it's just that," Aurora replied. Although she knew Maleficent was being sarcastic, there was some substance in the dry joke she had just made and Aurora wanted to think on it for a moment. "I don't think it's just about anger or grief," Aurora repeated. "While I think there's definitely a dichotomy going on here, it can't be that simple. We already know the phoenix is tied to light and dark, life and death. Like fire, it can bring life and light, or it can bring ashes and death. Why associate anger with the latter and grief with the former?"

"Because nothing in life is happy?" Maleficent asked, making another sarcastic joke. Aurora rolled her eyes fondly before shaking her head. She really was trying to think this through…

So… The half of the cycle that represented death and darkness was represented by an emotionally fiery bird, a creature of anger and energy. It was a creature that wanted to fight. The half that represented life and light was represented by a "colder" and "wetter" look, full of grief and slowness. Like a mourner. Perhaps it could be a metaphor for the grieving process? When someone died, anger would be the first thing a mourner felt. But once the anger, shock and disbelief faded away, the mourning would begin properly.

But maybe those weren't sad tears. Since birds couldn't exactly smile, there was no telling what this side of the Mother Phoenix was feeling. Just for a minute, Aurora tried to imagine the tears as happy ones. That aligned a bit better. The dark side of the phoenix would be anger beyond belief while the light side would be joy. But even that didn't seem right because it seemed too typical. The point of the phoenix was not to argue morality, nor was it to debate which half was the good one and which was the worse one. The point of the phoenix was to represent cyclical life. It was an endless round of life to death to rebirth to "re-death" to rebirth and back again. So attaching human emotions with positive and negative connotations didn't seem to fit the otherwise emotionless and amoral symbolism of the phoenix. The dichotomy had to lie elsewhere…

"Unless it's not an attribute at all!" Maleficent gasped suddenly. Even though it had looked like Aurora was the only one invested in solving the mystery of the phoenix, Maleficent's gears had been turning as well. Now she was starting to wonder…

"I know it sounds crazy, but what if it was some sort of prophecy?" she asked. "I mean, I'm sure that the Mother Phoenix used to look like that, either as black as cinders or as white as an open flame, but for her to be angry while in her "Ash Form" looks a lot like me and I've already wondered if the "Flame Form" of the phoenix isn't supposed to represent a creature of the light…"

"But then who…?" Aurora began, but it slowly dawned on her that she already knew the answer. "Me. The answer is me. _I _am the other half of the phoenix…" she turned to look at Maleficent. No more words were said, but none were needed, because Maleficent understood at once. Maybe she had been dead during the few minutes while Aurora was mourning her, but she had died slowly enough to see the start of Aurora's meltdown. Could it be? But Aurora had no fairy blood at all!

"And yet I think it might be true," Maleficent looked up at the weeping phoenix. "Whether she is weeping with joy or grief, she is certainly far more emotional than the other one," the Dark Fairy couldn't stop a tiny scoff as she mentally compared the two phoenixes to herself and Aurora. Aurora, meanwhile, felt her brain running a million miles an hour. If what Maleficent said was true that she was the light half of the phoenix, that meant that she had resurrected Maleficent.

"I didn't realize I had that kind of power…" Aurora looked down at her hands with awe and wonder.

"You don't," a new voice replied and Aurora and Maleficent whipped around to see Borra, clean-faced and clean-shaven, smiling softly at them from the doorway. For once, all the madness and bloodlust were gone from his face.

"Allow me to explain," he implored and after a brief, shared look, Maleficent and Aurora agreed to listen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Again, further liberties with the Maleficent and phoenix mythos. Feel free to complain or ask, I'm just kinda writing this by the seat of my pants, LOL.


	3. The Union

"Although none of us really know the true and complete story of the Mother Phoenix, philosophers have mused over it for as long as we have been around," Borra began. "You are correct that she is the mother of many magical creatures and the creatures of the light come from her flames while the creatures of the dark come from her cinders. Morality is not attached to these terms in this case, being a creature of the light does not mean that you are good. It simply means that your appearance and powers will manifest such that you are better suited either for night life or day life, dark magic or bright magic," he added and Aurora silently congratulated herself for having already postulated that. In this case, light and dark had nothing to do with morality or enjoyability. This time, it was about literal darkness and light.

"In any case," Borra continued, "the Dark Fairies came from the Great Mother Phoenix during the Death part of her Completed Cycle. That means the best of us," he paused to look at Maleficent, "will inherit powers based off of that."

"Being a black phoenix of smoke and destruction," Maleficent nodded. "Sounds about right.

"But that's only part of one of many theories about the other half of the phoenix," Borra warned, gaze sliding over to Aurora. "Even though you are only human, it is a theory amongst some of the fairy folk that if you bond enough to a fairy of a certain "type", dark or light, you will automatically become the other half. If you meant enough to Maleficent and you go by this theory, there's a possibility that you became the light phoenix not because of your own merit, but because if Maleficent is the dark side, then she needs someone to balance her and that'll be you," Borra concluded. "It's the union of the dichotomy of the phoenix. It's what makes the phoenix's life cyclical. That need for opposition and union creates a balanced circle. Maleficent is one half and you balance her out to make the union into a complete circle, a full cycle."

"So I'm a phoenix!?" Aurora gasped, starting to look excited.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself," Borra warned quickly. "For one, it is only a theory. For another, even those who believe in the theory agree that your powers will never match Maleficent's. You may have inherited some because she "chose" you to be her other half, but you certainly won't be turning into a phoenix any time soon," Borra paused to laugh.

"Awwww," Aurora frowned, partly joking but also somewhat bummed out to think she would never quite be as powerful as she had hoped.

"Don't worry, Beastie, like I said before, I love you just the way you are," Maleficent teased. "Besides, one phoenix is more than enough, right?"

"Well, technically, you two _make up _one whole phoenix," Borra corrected. "It's not just you, Maleficent, it's Aurora as well. Maybe she'll never be as strong as you, but she's got a bit of the Mother Phoenix in her too thanks to you."

"She's more like a young fledgling than a bird, though, no?" Maleficent asked with a smirk.

"Hey!" Aurora pretended to pout, but Borra agreed.

"That she is," he joked. "That she is," and while Aurora continued to pout playfully, Maleficent patted her shoulder.

"Don't frown so much, Beastie, you'll get awful wrinkles and you'll finally start living up to your nickname!" she teased.

"Do you speak from experience?" Aurora quirked an eyebrow and winked but Maleficent didn't miss a beat.

"Yes. I spent 16 years living with Diaval," she said and Aurora burst out laughing. Once again, had he been with them at the time, he would've cawed them both to death in his annoyance and offense.

"He'll kill you for saying that," Aurora joked.

"Well then you can just bring me back," Maleficent replied with a proud smirk.

"Actually, it's not quite that simple," Borra quickly interrupted. This got their attention again and he nodded. "You see, it _is _possible for a particularly powerful descendent of the Great Mother Phoenix to be able to harness her power of life, death and rebirth, but it even then, it needs the union to work. It didn't come from just you or _you_," he said, gesturing first to Maleficent and then to Aurora. The way he saw it, although Aurora had been the one to resurrect Maleficent, it was not on her own merit because, again, she was a human child. She had no magic powers. So somehow, Maleficent had been able to give or channel her power into Aurora long enough for Aurora to bring her back, even though neither of them could remember how it might've happened.

"Admittedly, it's all very confusing and theoretical stuff," Borra said. "It's all speculative, but that's just what the legends, stories, debates, rumors and texts say. They say even _we _can harness life, death and rebirth, but it only comes through two particularly powerful individuals who can create the dichotomy and the union, which in turn creates the cycle. Neither of you, individually, brought Maleficent back from the dead. It took both of your powers combined."

"Ooof, heavy stuff," Aurora muttered, looking at her hands again. It felt strange to think she had resurrected Maleficent, but it felt even stranger to think that Maleficent had resurrected herself through Aurora. Though if Maleficent had somehow given Aurora a bit of that "Mother Phoenix" attribute, then perhaps it made sense. Somehow. Sort of. There was a reason phoenixes were considered such rare, powerful and mysterious creatures and that was because it was crazy hard to understand them and their powers.

But after the lesson with Borra was done, Aurora and Maleficent returned home.

"So, how does it feel knowing you're part phoenix after all?" Maleficent teased her daughter.

"It feels awesome!" came the playful reply. Even though Aurora knew she'd never have any magical power on her own, it still felt cool to say that she had a bit of magic in her blood through Maleficent.

"I'm glad to hear you say that," Maleficent replied. They were flying back to the castle and almost there. At the last second, though, Maleficent veered sharply away from Aurora's bedroom.

"Wait. Where are we going?" Aurora frowned, tightening her grip on Maleficent as they continued to fly around the castle but never land.

"Well I figure that if you're the daughter of a bird now, the least you can do is join your mother for a late-night flight!" Maleficent replied and Aurora's slight worry turned into amusement at once.

"I don't care what anyone else says," she began as she snuggled deeper into Maleficent's arms. "You're the best Mother Phoenix of all!"

"That's because I'm _your _Mother Phoenix," Maleficent, but it made her heart feel warmer than a phoenix flame to hear Aurora say this to her and they spent the rest of the night soaring through the air together without a care in the world, both halves of the phoenix united once more to create the beautiful and perfect, cyclical whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Again, I know this really screwed with Maleficent and phoenix lore, but I just wanted to do some heavy-handed symbolism so this is what we got! LOL. Feel free to comment, critique or question as you see fit.


End file.
